Conference Re-Alignment

May 3, 2012

This year in college athletics, there has been another shift in the re-alignment of conferences. The biggest story to note, was West Virginia. West Virginia belonged to the Big East Conference, however, they wanted to drop out and join the Big 12. The commissioner of the Big East did not want them to leave. The problem for West Virginia, is that the Big East has a policy that you must wait 2 years after the initial request, before you can change conferences. West Virginia didn’t want to wait, so they ended up taking it to court. In the end, West Virginia paid the Big East $20 million to be able to leave right away. The Big East is also losing Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the ACC in two years. So with this new $20 million, it made sense for them to go out and find suitable replacements.

Enter Temple, my Alma mater. Temple has had a top 30 men’s basketball program over the last 5 years, and their football program is up and coming under new coach Steve Addazio. They used to be part of the Big East, until they were kicked out for poor performance. However, Temple’s two biggest programs might be better than ever right now, and this makes them a great choice for the Big East to add. This will help Temple’s recruiting, and overall bottom line, and hopefully I will be able to see my Owls make it to a final four or BCS bowl game.